For Pupils Only. 

■ F 7 5 


WHIST 



■ - 



inf^ereince: 


FffiST Wesson 

Copyright, /<&%>/ R. F. FOSTER, 

Author of "'Whist at a ('faMBB' cSr’c. 

917 Madison Ave., Baltimore, Md., U. S. 

























CrV I Z 7 7 

F7i>- 

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FOB PUPILS ONLY. 


1 


WHIST 

INFERENCES: 

INTRODUCTION. 


It is assumed that the pupil who takes up this Course knows the values 
of the cards, rules for cutting, dealing, scoring, &c. 

I confine myself in these lessons to such matters as all authorities are 
agreed upon, and which are recognized by all Whist players of the first- 
class. Where these authorities differ is in matters of judgement : in such 
cases I leave the pupil to follow his own. It is a question of temperament 
whether one plays a bold speculative game, or a steady cautious one. 

The following technical terms are used throughout these lessons :— 

THE 1ST HAND is the player that leads or plays the first card in- 
any tricx. 

THE 2ND HAND is his left hand adversary, who plays the 2 d card 
in the trick. 

THE 3D HAND is the partner of the person who played first, or led , 
in any trick. 

THE 4TH HAND is the last person to play to any trickT 

For example:—If B is third hand, and wins the trick, he must lead 
again. Upon doing so he becomes first hand, or leader, in the new trick, 
and the player to his left, who was fourth hand in the last trick, now be¬ 
comes 2 d hand, and so on. 


2 

The following Notation is used:— 

A K Q J io X 

ACE. KING QUEEN. JACK. TEN. One Small Card. 

XX indicates two small cards exactly. 

XXX indicates exactly three small cards. 

XXXX indicates four exactty ; and so on. 

X—X indicates two or more small cards. 

1 indicates with or without any small cards. That is : the entire 
absence of small cards, or the presence of any number of them makes no 
difference in the point under consideration. Anything below a ten is a 
“small card. ’’ 

“GOING ON” with a suit is leading it again with a view especially to 
the condition of your own hand. 

“RETURNING” a suit is leading it again with a view especially to 
the condition of the hand into, or through which you play. 


FIRST LESSON. 

What to Lead. Plain Suits Only. 

“A plain suit” is one which is not the trump suit for that deal. 

It is assumed that you know how to arrange your hand. I may sug¬ 
gest that in sorting it you will gain speed by sorting only two suits at a 
time; say the black first. Hold the 13 cards in the left hand, with the 
ring and little finger under, to prevent dropping them. Sort one 
black suit between the thumb and forefinger; sort the other between 
the forefinger and middlefinger ; while doing so run all the red cards 
back between the middle and ring-finger. When the black are sorted, 
take the red cards into the left hand again, do not disturb the black 



suits; but sort the red suits on top of them ; say Hearts on Spades, 
Diamonds on Clubs. Some players always keep the suits in the same 




order ; others put the trumps in some definite position. In spreading out 
your hand, hold the cards lightly in the left hand, and spread them with the 
right hand only , using the finger and thumb on the edges. 

When you have sorted your hand you will find each suit in it to con¬ 
tain some one of the following 32 combinations:— 


A 

K 

Q 

J 

10 M 

A 

Q 

J 

IO M 

K 

Q 

J 

IO ^ 

Q 

J 

10 

A 

K 

Q 

J 

hH 

A 

Q 

J 

►H 

K 

Q 

J 

hH 

Q 

J 


A 

K 

Q 

10 

hH 

A 

Q 

IO 


K 

Q 

IO 

hH 

Q 

IO 

1—I 

A 

K 

Q 



A 

Q 

1 


K 

Q 



Q 

►H 


A 

K 

J 

IO 

hH 

A 

J 

IO 

hH 

K 

J 

IO 

HH 

J 

IO 

HH 

A 

K 

J 

HH 


A 

J 

hH 


K 

J 

h-i 


J 

hH 


A 

K 

10 

hH 


A 

10 

hH 


K 

IO 

t-H 


IO 

HH 


A 

K 




A 

►H 



K 




X 

hH 




















4 

In this table all cards below the io are ranked as “small.” Thirty- 
one of these combinations contain at least one of the five principal cards : 
the A, K, Q, J, and io. The last one has none above a 9 It will be 
noticed that these combinations are all “with or without small cards.” 

In the Exercise Box, sent you herewith, you will find the foregoing 32 
combinations, all numbered on the back ; and each combination pivoted 
in the lower left hand corner, so that it can be spread out in the hand 
without disarranging it. 


FIRST EXERCISE. 

I must insist on all these Exercises being gone over with the actual 
cards; and they must be held in the hand exactly as you would hold them 
at the Whist table. Reading these lessons will teach you nothing—the 
cards everything. 

From the Exercise box take out the hands numbered 9 to 16 inclusive, 
and No. 33. Spread them out on tlie table so as to expose all the cards in 
each. 

I wish now to call your attention to two facts; that each of these nine 
hands is headed by an Ace: (Look at the hands on the table.) And that 
none of them contain a King. Do not content yourself by reading this 
over; lay the actual hands out on the table and study them; otherwise you 
are simply wasting your time. No one ever learned W hist by reading a 
book. 

Now observe that all but No. 33 contain five cards in suit: in the 
exception both the Q and the J are present 

From all these combinations the ACE IS LED; that is, played first. 

From which we have these rules : Ace is never led if accompanied by 
the next card in value, the King. Ace is only led if accompanied by at 


5 

least four other cards of the suit, unless two of them be the Queen and the 
Jack. 

Now turn these 9 hands face down on the table—then take any one at 
random open it in your hand, as you would in playing, and accustom the 
eye to recognize it as a combination from which the Ace is always led in 
plain suits. Put it back in its place in the box; take another from the 
table, and so on until all nine are put away. 

In the case marked “ Take this out first,'' you will find an ordinary 
pack of cards. Take out the nines, eights, sevens, sixes, and fives. The 
32 cards remaining will be hereafter referred to as the “practice-pack.” 
Now shuffle them, give yourself thirteen of them. Sort them as directed 
on p. 2, and see if any of the suits' are Ace leads ; and if not, why not— 
Take 13 more, sort them, and repeat the exercise until you can detect an 
Ace lead on sight. Pay no attention to anything but the Ace leads that 
may fall into your hand Now put the practice-pack a,way. 


SECOND EXERCISE. 

Take out of the box and Spread on the table hands No. 1 to 8 inclusive; 
and No. 19, No. 20 and No. 35. Examine them. 

These are all KING LEADS. 

In the first Exercise you learned (p. 4,) that Ace is never led if ac¬ 
companied by the card next, in value. Here, on the contrary: King is 
never led unless accompanied by one or both of the cards next in value 
—(A or Q). In four of these hands you will notice that both A and Q 
accompany the King; in four more A only, and in three more, Q only. 

In King leads the number of cards in suit makes no difference; it is 
the presence of the A, or the O, or both, that determines the lead. The 



6 


only exception to this is No. 35, K. Q, J, X, if there is more than one small 
card King is not led. We come to that later. 

Now comparing what you already know about Ace leads with these 
King leads, you will find this to be true : 

From every suit of at least five cards, headed by an Ace, an Ace or a 
King must be led. If the King is present, it is led ; if not, the Ace is led. 
This is not a rule ; it is a joining of two things you already know The rule 
is this :—From a suit of any number of cards, containing both A and K, or 
both K and Q, the King is led ; except as noticed in No. 35. 

Now turn these eleven hands face down on the table ; then take one at 
a time in your hand, and accustom your eye to them ; but do not put them 
back in the box for a moment. As the number of small cards is indifferent 
in King leads, after having gone over the eleven hands with all the cards 
spread out, put No. 35 back in the box and go over the others a second or 
third time, closing up one or two of the small cards to represent suits of 
only three or four catds, in this manner :— 



Suit of 4 . 


Suit of 5 . 


Having put them back in the box. take again the practice pack, give 
yourself 13 at a time as before ; sort them, and determine both the Ace and 






7 


King leads. Keep a watchful eye on suits headed by K. Q. J as to whether 
or not there is more than one small card. Put the practice-pack away. 

Take out No. 25 from the box ; it is the only combination from which 
QUEEN IS LED. A moment’s attention will show you that: Queen is 
never led if there is any higher card in the hand and, it is always accom¬ 
panied by both the J and the 10, with or without small cards 

Take the practice-pack, and again go over some hands of 13 cards, and 
note all the A. the K, and the Q leads. 

THIRD EXERCISE. 

From the box take hands No 17. 18, and 29. These three hands are 

JACK LEADS. 

You will notice that Ace is never present in a hand from which Jack is 
led. This little point is very important. 

Jack is never led unless it is accompanied by the two cards next in val¬ 
ue, above or below ; the Q and K ; or the 10 and 9. After taking these three 
hands up and studying them put 17 and 29 back in the box. 

Lay No. 18 face up on the table ; take out No. 35, and compare them. 
King was led from No 35 ; Jack from No. 18. These two hands confuse many 
beginners You know that the Jack is sometimes called the “Knave.” 
Now the word “Knave” has five letters in it, and from five or more cards 
the Knave is led. The word “King” has only four letters in it, and from 
four cards King is led This will apply to all combinations headed by K. Q. J. 

We have now mastered the ‘ Court Card ’ leads ; that is, the leads of A. 
K. Q. or J and have found them governed by these four simple rules :— 

ACE is never led if accompanied by the next card in value, (the King.) 

KING is never led unless accompanied by the next card in value, (the 
Ace or the Queeu.) 



8 

Compare these two ideas before proceeding. 

QUEEN is never led unless accompanied by the two cards next in value 
below , (J and io.) 

JACK is never led unless accompanied by the two cards next in value, 
above or below, (the K and Q ; or the io and 9.) 

Take the practice-pack and in every hand of 13 cards note all the court 
card leads, and be careful of KQ.J. *-h 

FOURTH EXERCISE. 

Take out hands No. 21 and 31. They are the TEN LEADS They are 
very similar to the Jack leads Ace is never present: two cards above, the 
J and K ; or the two next below in value, the 9 and 8, are alway present. 
The number in suit is unimportant, so you can practise these shut in to four 
or three cards in suit, as on page 6. 

[The books say lead 10 from No 175 a very useless and confusing ex¬ 
ception as we shall see later ] 

Now take the practice pack and go over the A. K. Q J. and 10 leads 
that fall into your hand, until you are confident the hand can pick out the 
right card automatically, as soon as the eye falls upon the combination. 

Take from the box, and spread out on the table, hands No. 22, 23, 24 ; 
26, 27, 28 ; 30 ; 32 ; and 34. Satisfy yourself that they do not call for any of 
the leads we have been studying. Turn them face down ; take them in hand 
one at a time ; and again, shut in to three or four card suits ; under no con¬ 
dition do they call for a high card lead. Leave them on the table a mo¬ 
ment 

The FOURTH-BEST card is led from all such irregular or broken 
combinations, if there are four or more cards in the suit The Fourth-Best 
is the fourth card, counting from the highest in the hand. In No 22 it is 
the four of Diamonds. 



9 


If there are less than four cards in the suit and you feel compelled to 
lead such a suit, such a lead is called a FORCED LEAD ; because it is not 
what can be called a strong suit, either from length or high cards ; but cer¬ 
tain conditions of the hand or of the game may force you to lead it. Take 
up these nine combinations, one at a time, shutting them up to three-card 
suits. From all such short suits as they now present; QJx; Qiox; Qx 
x ; J x x, it is safest to lead the highest card first, except it be the King. 
Some players even lead that; but it is not wise to do so. 

NEVER LEAD A TWO CARD SUIT at the beginning of a hand; 
only in the last few tricks. 

In suits of auy number of cards more than four, lead the fourth-best if 
they contain none of the regular combinations. The immense advantage 
of such regularity in your play will be seen later. In all hands of 13 cards, 
some suit must have four cards ; but if the only one is the trump suit, and 
you do not want to lead it, take the suit having the strongest combination ; 
and if none of the combinations are present you must make a ‘ forced lead / 

Having put these nine hands back 
in the box, take out hands No. 11,12 
13, 14, 15 and 16. Lay them face 
. down on the table, and then take 
them one at time in your hand, and 
shut in the fourth card, so as to make 
them all four-card suits , thus :— 

From all these the fourth-best is led ; not the Ace ; for they do not come 





10 

under the Aee lead rule, that there must be five cards in suit, unless both 
the Queen and the Jack are present. 

Having put these back in the box, you can practise on the entire series 
by taking out any hand at random from the box, and after determining what 
is the proper lead put it back and take another. Then go over them at 
random shut in to four or three-card suits, and note what leads are or are 
not altered by shortening the suit. 

You have no trumps yet and need not trouble yourself about forced 
leads. 

You can now take the practice pack and put in the other 20 cards, mak¬ 
ing an ordinary pack of 52 cards, and give yourself a number of hands, 
determining what you would lead from each suit in the hand. 


REMARKS. 

Some authorities dwell at length on the reasons for selecting certain 
suits to lead from at the beginning of a hand. It is generally conceded that 
the strongest suit should be selected; not so much on account of its strength, 
which should tell at any time during the hand, as to secure your partner’s 
assistance in protecting or “establishing” it. By leading it first you call his 
attention to it, and notify him that, no matter how poor it may be, it is the 
best you have. A suit containing more than one court card (‘ or honor ’) is 
strong ; but A. K x is not so strong as five cards in suit, 10 high. Where 
the two elements, length and strength, meet is hard to say ; but always lead 
the five card suit, if only’for partner’s benefit, unless you have two honors 
(or court cards) in a four card suit. The score, the trump card, and many 



11 


other little details may alter your choice, but try and give long suits the 
preference in your first lead. 

PLAYING ON PARTNER’S LEADS: 

PLAIN SUITS ONLY. 

We shall now move across the table and consider what you would do 
if your partner led first, and it was your turn, as Third Hand, to play to his 
lead. 

We will assume that Secofid Hand , follows suit with some small or 
indifferent card. 

The first thing to impress on your mind is that the suit led is your 
partner’s, not yours ; and that you must not appropriate it, however strong 
you may be. You must not trifle with it, nor “finesse ’’ in it. 

To ‘ finesse” [Fr. a strategem] means to attempt to win a trick with 
an inferior card, not your best ; but in such a manner as to leave your 
hand in the best possible condition in case the finesse fails. If this is not 
your object you are not finessing but speculating. We come to the va¬ 
rieties of the finesse later. 

There is only one FINESSE, not only allowable but expected from the 
3d hand on his partner’s lead; that is when he holds A, O, >-h , and his part¬ 
ner has led a small card of the suit If 2d Hand plays a small card, 3d 
Hand should finesse the Q ; that is, try and win the trick with it, hoping 
King is not in 4th hand on his left. If his finesse fails he still commands 
the suit with the A. 

As the duty of the 3d hand is to assist his partner, both by getting out 
of his way and by helping him to exhaust the cards that are held against 
him in his suit, it is first necessary for the 3d hand to ascertain what his 



12 


partner is trying to accomplish. If he leads, what does he lead from and 
what cards in that suit does he want out of his way? 

He may lead any one of six things; an A, K. Q, J, io or a small card. 
In your judgment of" what combinations these are led from you have two 
positive sources of information; the card led, and the cards of that suit 
which you hold. Two other sources, less certain, the 2d haud s play, and 
the card with which 4th hand wins the trick, if he does win it. 

Let us begin with the simplest elements; the card led and your own 
hand. 


FIFTH EXERCISE. 

Take your practice-pack, and get out the four Aces , and one small 
card of each suit. 

From the exercise box take out and lay face down, on the table in any 
order hands Nos. 17 to 32 inclusive. 

Take one at random say No 27: the suit is clubs; place the A x of 
clubs in the middle of the table to represent partner s A led and the 2nd 
hands play upon it Open the hand you hold in this manner:— 
and ask yourself: “What combination did my 
partner lead ihat Ace of Clubs from ?’’ You hold¬ 
ing Q, know at once ; from Ace and at least four 
others, among which may be the J or the ic; but 
certainly not the King. Take hand No. 19; he 
may have thej. Take No 23; he may have both 
J and Q. 

Follow the same course with all of the sixteen 
hands you have laid out, placing A x of the same 
suit in the centre of the table each time. As you 



-'5 


Suit of 5. 





13 


compare each hand put it back in its place in the box. This practice will 
soon convince you that in the great majority of cases, Ace is led from five 
or more in suit; so your first consideration must be to get out of the way of 
such a strong suit, unless you have five yourself. If you have five or 
more, play your smallest and wait xmtil you see who is stronger, you or 
your partner. If you have only tw T o or three of the suit, of course play the 
lowest. 

But if you have FOUR EXACTLY, keep the lowest, play your 3d best; 
because if partner has five and you four, that is nine cards out of thirteen ; 
and if 2d hand follows suit, making ten, there are only three out against 
your partner when it is your turn to play. He must therefore be (numer¬ 
ically) stronger than anyone at the tab'e, in that suit. By keeping your 
smallest you have always a card to lead which he can take; you thus avoid 
the chance of blocking his suit, and give him much valuable information, 
as will appear later. Even if your four exactly are theK, Q, J, x; play 
the Jack , not the small one on partner’s Ace led. You may think this is 
foolish; it is Whist and its advantage will be apparent in the next lesson. 

Having thought this over a little, take any hand from No 17 to 32 
inclusive, shut it up to a four, three, or even two card suit and determine 
what you would play on partner’s Ace led Put each back in the box as 
you finish with it 

Then take 13 cards from the pack, still leaving the A x of each suit on 
the table, and after sorting your hand, ask yourself how you would play 
each suit in it to your partner’s Ace led; at the same time noting what it 
is probably led from 

SIXTH EXERCISE 

Take the four Kings out of the practice pack and a small card of each 
suit as before. 

/ .‘ ' 5T 



14 

From the box take hands No. 13 to 16 inclusive, and No. 25 to 32 in¬ 
clusive, lay all face down on the table, and proceed as you did with Ace 
leads, by taking up any of these hands, opening it, and placing the K, x 
of the same suit in the middle of the table. In the majority of cases you 
can tell at once whether King w r as led from K, A, or from K, O. In actual 
play if it was from K, Q, and you did not hold the A, the adversary who 
did hohl it would take the K; and you would then know your partner had 
the Q Simple as this is, many players fail to notice it and later in the hand 
wonder where that Queen is ! 

Shuffle your pack, leaving the K x of each suit still on the table; give 
yourself some hands of 13 cards, and see what you think 1\ was led from. 
At the same time think what you w r ould play to it It w T ill soon be ap- 
parent that King may be led from a great variety of combinations,—we 
* examined n in the first lesson, —and often from very short suits You 
must not be too hasty in giving up the control of the suit as in the Ace 
leads. 

King led gives less information to 3d Hand than any other card. 

As there is little chance of your blocking the suit, play your lowest on 
K led. whether you hold two, three, four, five, or more of the suit. 

As to taking or passing, there is only one case where you should take 
partner’s K led; when you hold only the A. J Your tw r o cards are really 
of equal value, partner holding Q. Play the A on his King keeping the 
J to lead to him which he can take or pass as he pleases. If you keep the 
A, he cannot take it and if later he leads his suit your Ace blocks it by 
stopping him. 

Now practise with the hands that are still on the table (No. 13 to 16; 
No. 25 to 32). Then shut them up to four, three, and two-card suits, put¬ 
ting each back in the box when finished with it. 


15 

SEVENTH EXERCISE. 

From the pack take the four Queens and four small cards, one of each 
suit. 

From the box take out and lay face down on the table No. 8, 16, 24 and 
32. The small number of combinations that can be held against Oueen led 
will further impress on your mind the certainty of what it is led from, 
apart from forced leads of course, which are comparatively rare, especially 
with good players. 

As practice is unnecessary here, except to go over these four hands 
and notice that none contain J or 10, you may proceed at once to deter¬ 
mine what you will play on Q led. Now, Q, J, 10 and others is a strong 
hand and you must get out of its way. With x x x x (four small cards 
exactly') of the suit, no court card among them you must keep the 
smallest to lead to partner later on; just as in the Ace leads. But if you 
have a court card in your four exactly, play the lowest of the four to the Q. 
If you hold more or less than four, play the lowest, just as on A led. Take 
hand No. 32, as it stands, five in suit you play the 3 on Q led; shut up to a 
four-card suit, 9, 8, 6, 3, you would play the 6. as you have no court card, 
keeping the 3. 

Give yourself a few hands from the pack, leaving out the Q x of each 
suit, and determine what card of each suit you would play to Q led. 

Some authorities discuss taking or passing partner’s Q when you hold 
the Ace. On p. n, holding both A and Q you finessed the Q, trusting it to 
take the trick The only difference here is that your partner played it; 
but you can still keep your Ace. and trust to K being on your right. But 
if you hold both A and K and only one small one; take hand No. 8 shut up 
to a ihree-card suit, A. K, x, as an example; if you play the small one, 
your A, K will block partner’s J, 10; so take the O with the K, keeping the 


16 

small one to lead to him later on. With A, K, x x, play the smallest card. 
Hand No. 8, shut in to four cards will be an example. 


EIGHTH EXERCISE. 

Get out the four Jacks and a small card of each suit. 

From the box take the following hands: Nos. 4, 8, 12; 15, 16, 20, 24, 28, 
31 and 32, and compare them one at a time with the J x of the same suit in 
the middle of the table. 

You will observe that J is usually led fiom long and strong combi¬ 
nations. 

In deciding what to play to it follow the same principle as with Q 
leads; keep the lowest of four small cards exactly, no court card among 
them: play the lowest of more or less than four. 

But if you hold A, K, or O, shall you pass or take the Jack led? A mo¬ 
ment’s reflection wflll show you that if you hold K, or Q, or both of them, 
the J was led from J, 10, 9 w. Compare J led with No. 20, 24 and 28. 
You gain nothing by taking the J; let it pass. But take No. 20; shut in to a 
three card suit, K, Q. x. This is similar to your A, K, x on O led (p 15), 
keep the sma 1 one to lead up to partner’s 10,9 and others later on. With 
such a hand as No. 8, whether with one two or three small ones, take the 
J unless you are very strong in trumps and can afford to let Q make. 
Study this hand carefully. Then take No. 16, closed up to A x, a id com¬ 
pare it with J led. Your hand gives no clue to what it was led from, so 
play the A, by whi-ch you accomplish two things : You keep a little one to 
lead to partner ; and you let him know by your taking his J with your A 
that you have only one small card left of that suit, or none at all. If the 
small card you hold is the 9, of course you know partner led from K, Q, J, 
x — x ; that is, he holds No. 17 or 18 (but not No. 35). 



Go over these ten combinations, shut up to four, three, and two card 
suits, and compare with the J led, putting back in the box as you finish 
with them. 


NINTH EXERCISE. 

Get out the four tens . and a small card of each suit as before. 

From the box take out all the even numbered hands ; 2, 4, 6, 8 &c. up 
to 32. Compare each in turn with the 10 x of the same suit in the centre of 
the table, and ascertain what combination the 10 was led from 

In all these hands only four, Nos 12, 16 28, and 32 admit the possibility 
of its being led from K, J, 10, In two (12 and 32) you know it was led 
from that combination. Your only consideration then is how to help your 
partner; how to get out of 'he way of his J, K, t—1; or to force out those 
against his 9, 8 and others. 

You will see it is best to pass the 10, unless you have only the A and Q. 
in which case the usual finesse of the O would be imprudent, as your A 
might block his suit of K, J, and others. With hand No. 16, two, three, 
four or five in suit, take the 10 led With hand No 28. pass it, in hopes the 
10 may force the A to your left, as you remember A is never in the hand 
from which 10 is led. 

Where you hold x x x x of the suit, no court card among them, keep 
the lowest of the four, as in former cases The next lesson wall develope 
the importance of this play, and better impress it on the memory. 


TENTH EXERCISE. 

When a LOW CARD is led originally most players regard it as a part 
of chaos, without meaning, and void of interest. 




18 


The presumption is that your partner has no combination of high cards 
to lead from ; but that as he has always a suit of at least four cards he has 
selected that, and as this card is smaller than a io it is his fourth-best card 
of that suit, no matter how many he holds What you want to ascertain 
is what are the three cards that he holds that are better than the one led. 

As it is not always possible to ascertain this, merely from the card led, 
the next best thing is to discover how many cards the adversaries hold in 
your partner’s suit which are better than any or all of his unknown cards. 
This is very important 

To accomplish this I have formulated the following rule, which I dis¬ 
covered after much careful study. It s usefulness I have found to be so 
great that I wonder it was not discovered before :— 

RULE : Deduct the number of spots on the small card led from eleven; 
the remainder is the number of cards that are held against your partner’s 
suit. 

For example, he leads a 9. 9 from 11 leaves 2. If you hold and can 

get rid of any two cards larger than the one led, or can force the adversar¬ 
ies to play them ; or if he can catch them, his suit is “established.” Don’t 
trouble yourself with what they are. any two larger than the one led is the 
point. Suppose he led this 9 front A, Q. 10, 9 •—1 ; the two cards against him 
are the K and the J. If he led 8 from A J. 10. 8 m ; 8 from 11 leaves 3; these 
three are the K, Q, and 9. He knows ivhat they are ; you know how many 
there are. 

The second part of my rule is this : from the remainder thus found, de¬ 
duct the number of cards you hold which are larger than the one led ; this 
last remainder is the number of cards the adversaries hold against your 
partner and yourself in that suit. If he led a 7, which from 11 leaves 4, and 
you held A, K, 9, hh there is only one out against your suit. 


19 


flCiri give this rule to my pupils for their individual use only, and 
do not allow them to communicate it to others. 

Practise the foregoing by taking several hands of 13 cards from the 
pack ; and after sorting them, place two small cards of any suit in the cen¬ 
tre of the table ; assume that your partner led one, look at the same suit in 
your own hand, and apply this rule. In many cases the card played by 2d 
Hand is larger than the one led and can be counted. In actual play the 4th 
hand may win the trick, or play a card larger than the one led, which can 
be counted. 

In this practice be careful to observe where the card you assume to be 
led by partner is obviously impossible, or wrong. P'or example ; you have 
placed the 8 and 7 on the table as played by partner and 2d hand ; but on 
sorting your 13 cards, you find you hold the A, Q, 9 of that suit. 8 from 
11 leaves 3, all of which you hold ! The only 3 above an 8 he can hold are 
the K, J, and 10 ; from which he would have led the 10 This practice in 
detecting such inconsistencies is of great value, and should receive special 
attention. 


REMARKS. 

The only alteration in your play as 3d Hand, will be if 2d hand does not 
follow suit In that case you must not be in too great a hurry to “unblock,’’ 
but await developments and play your lowest always, even from four cards 
of the suit exactly. 

I trust it is not necessary to tell you that in winning or attempting to 
win any trick, you should do so as cheaply as possible. That is to say, if 
you hold A, K, Q. of a suit led up to you. take it with the Q If you hold 

J, 10, the 10 will take it as well as the j. Some “dark” players, thinking A, 

K, Q, are “all the same” if in one hand, play the A, to deceive their ad- 



20 

versaries as to position of the K and Q ; but they only deceive their part¬ 
ners who are afraid to lead the suit again. So with small cards, if you 
have the 4, 3, 2, play the 2 ; you cannot be too careful in this respect. At 
all stages of the game take tricks with the lowest card that will take them. 
If A and O have been played, and you hold K, J , play the J. The only 
exceptions are in trumps led by your adversaries, or so late in the hand 
that it is of no importance to your partner what you play. 




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